


Where the Heart Is

by tanarill



Category: Tin Man (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Attraction, Bathroom Sex, Blushing, Boys Kissing, Cleaning, Erections, Fluffy Ending, French Kissing, Geniuses, Gentle Kissing, Home Improvement, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Neck Kissing, Nudity, Paperwork, Partial Nudity, Post-it Notes, Proprietary, Public Nudity, Secretaries, Slow Burn, Stubborn, the brain is still the biggest sex organ in the human body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-04
Updated: 2008-04-04
Packaged: 2019-12-26 12:15:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18282215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanarill/pseuds/tanarill
Summary: Cain hadn't had a home for a long time, and he wasn't quite sure how to make one now, either. Neither had Glitch, but he was at least willing to try.





	Where the Heart Is

**Author's Note:**

> Another thing written in the Tin Man fandom, a bit over a decade ago. I am pleased with how this one came out.

Cain didn't really have a home anymore. There was a room (actually, a quite nice suite) that he slept in, and another room a short distance away that he spent his days in, with the exception of lunch. Lunch was spent in the cafeteria, which served coffee from the same pot as it had fifteen annuals ago, apparently without ever having had the filter changed.

Because there _were_ fifteen annuals of increasingly corrupt government to work out, Cain's office was full of paperwork. Piles of it. It was a blessing that Azkadellia had kept such good records, in a way, because every single illegal arrest and incident of police brutality was in there. Somewhere. Cain didn't see why he was the one doing it, especially since his idea of filing was: put it somewhere and forget about it. A trained secretary would have been much better, and freed him up for important things.

Cain's suite had a bed, a set of kitchenware, and a closet. But everything went exactly where it went and there barely any sign of occupation to the outside observer.

The observer in question was Glitch, who was in his usual blithe fashion commenting about how Cain ought to get some furniture, and possibly paint the walls. Cain was doing his best to ignore it, but everything was different now. DG was a princess and didn't have time, Raw had left entirely, and Glitch was . . . Glitch was Glitch. No one was quite sure why the operation had failed. Glitch said it hadn't, but aside from him not glitching Cain didn't really see the difference. He certainly wasn't the genius adviser Ambrose.

" . . . and so I was wondering if I could move in with you?" finished Glitch, and Cain blinked.

"Absolutely not," said Cain, not having registered the rest and not particularly caring.

"Aww, why not?"

"You have a perfectly good set of rooms-"

Glitch shook his head. "Those are _Ambrose_ 's. I miss you guys, but DG is busy being a princess now. You're the only one I can ask."

"No."

***

Glitch was a good deal more stubborn than that, with the result that, fourteen days, ten hours, and twenty-six minutes later, Cain relented. Glitch had spent the last two weeks following him around, seducing his Tin Men, invading his personal space, and generally annoying him.

But, he had to admit, the results were impressive. It went like this: he happened to mention that it would take annuals for him to get through the mess Azkadellia had left. Glitch had promptly appropriated a filing cabinet, and dragged it into Cain's office with a maximum of bumps, gawkers, and eventually a whole team of Tin Men. Then he'd sat himself down _in Cain's chair_ , and begun working through the massive piles of paperwork. For the first few days, it was comparatively tame, and then enough floor space was available that Cain got his (now immaculate) desk back and moved to floor.

He derailed for a day to invent a kind of weak adhesive, which allowed him to glue little bits of paper to other bits of paper and then just pull it off later, leaving no residue. It took a bit of trial and error, which was why Cain had bits of paper stuck to his desk and chair. But the stuff was damned useful-easy to leave a note on someone's office door, or a report being passed around, saying what needed to be done.

By day six, Cain's office looked like it had been hit by a small paper hurricane. Large reports lay haphazardly all over the floor, along with smaller pre-glued squares of paper. Glitch was messily scribbling away, talking to anyone who came by, and slapping Cain or anyone else who tried to touch any of it.

Cain's office was completely off-limits from days eight to twelve. Oh, the door was open, and both of them were still inside, but the only reason Cain didn't cut and run was he was _not_ letting Glitch throw him out of his own office.

On day thirteen, Glitch began filing. He quickly decided he needed another cabinet, and stacked everything in two piles before going and finding one - as well as the half-dozen Tin Men to move it. Two hours later, he went back to filing. By the end of day fourteen, Cain's office was clean, except for the experimental bits of paper stuck to the furniture. One cabinet held information on the Longcoats, the other information on the victims, and everything was labeled and numbered and cross-referenced.

"Okay," said Cain, half-afraid and half looking forward to what Glitch would do once he'd moved in. "You can move in with me."

Glitch squeaked and jumped up and hugged him, babbling thanks when all Cain really wanted was for him to _let go_ because he was having trouble breathing.

***

He was not exactly disappointed, either. Glitch took the other bedroom and locked him out of the kitchen for a few days, which was no big loss because he ate all his meals in the cafeteria anyway. When he was allowed back in, he found everything blue and white: the walls, the tiled floor and backsplashes, the towels, the curtains, the _dishes_. The food, too, but he had the feeling that Glitch had used blueberry yogurt just to annoy him.

The _other_ thing about living with Glitch was that he didn't wear nearly enough clothing. Like that time he'd caught Glitch cooking in an apron. _Only_ an apron. Glitch hadn't been embarrassed at all, but he had for both of them and then once he'd managed to get Glitch to put on some pants went off to his own room to fume.

As time went on, it became increasingly obvious, to Cain's horror, that he was actually _attracted_ to Glitch. It wasn't so much the fact that he was all skinny angles and bright smiles as the fact that whenever he was in a bad mood one of his traitorous Tin Men would go find Glitch and somehow between then and the time Glitch left again, all the tension would leave. He started walking across the palace and back up to his rooms for lunch and endless talk of giant gears and small whirly machines doing arcane things and _Glitch_.

For his part, the former headcase didn't seem to notice and walked around practically _naked_ , which caused Cain to yell at him and then lock himself in his room until such time as Glitch was clothed. Or, if he did notice, he was doing it _on purpose_ just to wind him up and it worked every single time. He finally resolved to ignore it, which was damned difficult when he found himself with a raging hard-on every time. He managed.

But every man has his breaking point, and Cain hit his when Glitch finished the bathroom. It was done in white and green and copper, soothing colors, and apparently Glitch had done something to the pipes as well because the hot water could boil lobsters and the cold water was frigid and the water no longer emerged as a half-hearted trickle. Glitch took very long showers, because ten-maybe-more annuals of road dirt left him with a real love of being _clean_ , so of course once Glitch announced that he'd finished and the bathroom was open again Cain immediately went and got a towel and tried to steal the bathroom, only to find Glitch already occupying it.

Wet, naked, Glitch. Standing there with soap in the longish hair running down his back, lips just parted. He'd clearly just been enjoying the feel of water running down his body, but he was now blinking askance of Cain.

Cain was naked, and had just sprouted _another_ erection, and he had two options: he could either run away blushing and apologize later and hope Glitch hadn't noticed, or he could say screw it and then screw Glitch.

Glitch had gotten as far as forming the word "what" when Cain opened the shower door and (carefully, because wet tile is slippery) pinned Glitch to the wall and started kissing him.

Glitch's eyes widened momentarily, and then he relaxed into it, kissing Cain back for all he was worth. When Cain tentatively licked his lips, Glitch immediately opened them, allowing Cain in to taste and explore. Glitch tasted a little of machine oil and a lot of the sweet tea he was _always_ drinking, ever since they'd learned the hard way not to give him coffee; in short, perfect. He spent a short eternity there, not moving, just memorizing.

He didn't realize until he pulled back that Glitch had begun making small whimpers in the back of his throat, soft sounds that spoke volumes of his need. That he was just as hard as Cain, and arching into the contact. That his eyes were half-lidded like when he was sleepy, but sharp and awake. That he was just blushing under Cain's scrutiny.

That he was _enjoying_ himself.

Just like that, Cain felt the rest of his resistance collapse, and he leaned in again. He kissed each eyelid, tasted the tip of Glitch's nose, gave a soft peck on the lips. He kissed and nipped and sucked at whatever bit of skin caught his fancy, all down the column of Glitch's throat, until he found a spot that made every muscle in Glitch's body tense at once. That spot, he licked and nibbled and sucked at unmercifully, until he could feel the tremble of Glitch's legs as they fought not to give out, the harshness of his breath coming in little gasps.

"I love you," he was surprised to whisper into Glitch's ear. He was not nearly as surprised when he felt Glitch come with a low moan, all the tension leaving the smaller man.

"I love you too," was the first thing Glitch said when he could speak again. He followed this by pulling Cain in for another dizzying kiss.

***

Later - much later, when they had explored each other's bodies and their own to their satisfaction, when they were lying together sated and replete and Cain knew beyond all shadow of a doubt that he was taking vacation tomorrow - Glitch asked, "Why now, finally?"

There were a lot of things Cain could have said, about mad geniuses and courting and surprise home renovations, but instead he simply said, "My home is in your arms."

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to clean it up a bit while tagging, but there are still probably typos. Let me know when you spot them.
> 
> Why is finding a job so difficult? WHY?


End file.
